Clal – The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership

Legal name: Clal-the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237390358
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
212-779-3300
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Judaism
Affiliation
Judaism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,591,578
Expenses
$4,170,511
Assets
$13,320,949
Liabilities
$1,163,559

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

36 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • ELAN BABCHUCK (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT)
  • RABBI BRADLEY HIRSCHFIELD (PRESIDENT)
  • RABBI IRWIN KULA (PRESIDENT EMERITUS)
  • RABBI Irving Greenberg (President Emeritus)

Highest reported compensation

  • RABBI BRADLEY HIRSCHFIELD (PRESIDENT): $561,151 total reported compensation
  • RABBI IRWIN KULA (PRESIDENT EMERITUS): $471,313 total reported compensation
  • ELAN BABCHUCK (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT): $291,008 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Clal is a pluralistic Jewish think tank and leadership training institute that helps people and communities throughout North America and around the world to rise to today’s challenges with courage, creativity, and care. At Clal, we believe Jewish wisdom is a wellspring of inspiration that can enable leaders to address today’s most urgent questions and shape more pluralistic and thriving communities. By expanding both their vision and capability, we empower individuals and organizations to meet challenges with courage. We help them blossom into the impactful leaders they feel called to be, living more purposeful, ethical, and insightful lives. What Do We Value? Championing.

What it reported doing in 2024

Clal's leadership training programs cultivate innovative, spiritually grounded leaders who can guide Jewish life or faith community writ large with creativity, wisdom, and resilience. Through a range of initiatives, Clal equips rabbis, clergy, and Jewish professionals with tools for adaptive leadership, design thinking, and spiritual entrepreneurship. In 2024, these efforts included Leading Through Innovation, an inter-seminary graduate course on innovation and entrepreneurship for rabbinical students; the Leading Through Innovation Alumni Retreat, which deepened connection and learning among emerging rabbinic leaders; LEAP, a collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania's Katz Center linking leading scholars with rabbis to translate cutting-edge Jewish research into communal impact; and The Belonging Project, which trained synagogue teams and clergy to design for belonging and to strengthen community connection. Additional programs included Rabbis Without Borders Alumni Study Group, fostering intellectual and spiritual exchange among Clal's national rabbinic network; Glean Network, a multi-faith incubator training clergy in spiritual innovation; and RabbiCareers.com, Clal's open-access platform supporting rabbinic placement and career growth. Together, these initiatives advanced Clal's mission to nurture visionary leaders capable of renewing Jewish life for the 21st century.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 81% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 81
  • Sustainability: 68
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 63.3%; rating input score 63
  • Program expense ratio: 82%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $54.57 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Limited
    • Conducts field audits: Limited
    • May suspend future funding: Limited
    • Requires financial reports: Limited
    • Conducts site visits: Limited
    • Requires grant agreements: Limited
    • May require repayment: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 91.2%; rating input score 91; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 25.4%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.19; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 36.5%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -2% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.2% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 63.3% of revenue deployed · 82% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 31 of 34 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $3.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $561K · 36 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $132K reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 8 filing years from 2016 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.